The Millennium Doctor Speaks:

"Taking the pulse of 2000 A.D."

"It will be the time of our lives, one time...one world...one party.(tm)"
This little ditty is already trademarked by a company that is working to
become the brand name of 2000. In this issue of "Let's Talk 2000"
you'll get a first hand look at how their marketing guru is working to bite
off a big market share of the millennium. If their plan works, the consumer
will be king from 1999-2001.

News from the Field:

"Here is the latest news on year 2000 efforts"

MC, INC.--THE BRAND NAME OF 2000?
For Skip Kitchens--a 43-year old Chicago marketing guru, the first
man on the moon, the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the fanfare of the
World's Fair are nothing in comparison to the magic of the year 2000.
To prove his point, Kitchens has been cooking up a private commercial
venture, called "Millennium Celebrations, Inc.," which he claims
will be "the brand name of the year 2000." Before 1995 Kitchens
served as VP of development for Carlson Companies, a $10-billion conglomerate
that owns the Radisson, TGIF restaurant and a host of travel agencies.
For the turn of the century, Kitchen promises a simultaneous five-day
orchestrated global gala of unprecedented proportions, involving sports,
culture and music. Millennium Celebrations(tm)' web site claims, "In
every time zone, we'll have world-renowned entertainment bringing in the
next 1,000 years, performing at the most desirable venues in the most exciting
cities around the globe." http://www.rust.net/~mc2000/
"Whatever their interests, people like to share special occasions
with other people." And to Kitchens, the year 2000 is the mother of
all special occasions, one which should be given back to the consumers of
the world.
But can an 18-month old company really bite off such a large millennial
market share? The secret according to Kitchen is in the recipe. Rather than
cook up special events now, Millennium Celebrations(tm) is providing corporations
"global perspective, offering licenses, facilitating partnerships,
and marketing opportunities."
Apparently, Millennium Celebrations(tm) unique niche has already attracted
some twenty commercial sponsors which range from a voice communications
giant to a worldwide resort chain, from a local car dealer in Detroit to
a discount outlet in Tokyo. This summer Kitchens plans to invite cities
within all 24-time zones worldwide to bid as hosts for Millennium Celebrations(tm)
events, grand finale parties and coverage in a global 25-hour turn of the
century broadcast.
But does "Millennium Celebrations(tm) have a future in the next
millennium? Kitchens declined to speculate, but said, "It's a fun thing
to pursue. What better business could anyone be in?" Source: talk2000@rmii.com

JESUS AT 2000 ON E-MAIL
Three weeks ago, HarperCollins convened "Jesus at 2000"
at Oregon State University, the first national scholarly symposium on the
2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. Now as a follow-up to this,
HarperCollins has retained three of its "historical Jesus" authors
to debate each other via e-mail. And they are inviting anyone to listen
in to this electronic scholarly chit-chat.
The focus of "Jesus at 2000" is really the Jesus of 2,000
years ago. This is a long discussion, with a 200-year history in the modern
age. But never before has that academic discussion been brought so prominently
into the public arena as it has in the last decade through the often flawed,
methodologically confused, and sometimes ideological work of the "Jesus
Seminar."
Until the end of March, authors John Crossan and Marcus Borg are debating
their views on the historical Jesus with Luke Timothy Johnson, their chief
critic. To date more than 2,000 people have signed up to listen to the "Jesus
at 2000" cyber-debate. For more information check out: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/jesus2000.html

Talk from the Forum:

"Here is a recap of recent conversations"

TERRORISM AND MILLENARIANISMJeffrey Kaplan, from Ilisagvik
College, reports that "The Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence,"
7:3 (Autumn 1995) has published a special issue on millenarianism and violence.
Millennial scholar Michael Barkun edited the volume to includes topics such
as: historical millenarianism, modern millennial violence episodes such
as the Earth First! movement, the politics of the millennium, the millenarian
tradition in New Zealand, and the pro-life rescue movement in the U.S.

THE TVE MILLENNIUM PAGE: "The state
of the planet in the 21st Century"
The BBC and TVE, a British television production group, are soliciting bids
from the 200 of the world's outstanding film-makers on a six part environmental
films series called, "Millennium." A projected 2.5 billion will
view the series from 1998 to 1999.http://www.oneworld.org/tve/millenium.html

ALT.FUTURE.MILLENNIUM: "The new millennium
is the New Age"
Here is a New Age newsgroup which provides "information, documentation,
and personal revelations about the coming millennium period." Participants
post "new age prophecy, share what astrology and divination have to
say about the years leading to the millennium, and ponder various earth
changes, weird weather, pyramids or alien contacts."Web Site: http://www.newciv.org/millennium_matters/